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ACA - CMEPIUS Conference - Bled, Slovenia 17-18 October 2019

On 17 and 18 October, one of this year's most exciting higher education conferences will take place in Bled, Slovenia. The engaged university, co-organised by ACAand CMEPIUS, will feature many highly reputed speakers.

One of them is Sybille Reichert, who will present her new study on the role of universities in regional innovation ecosystems. After obtaining her Ph.D. from Yale University, Sybille has been stunning the world of higher education. After three years at ETH Zurich as head of strategic planning, Reichert set up her own consultancy firm in 2004 (Reichert Higher Education Consulting). Her mandates combined institutional reform agendas with global higher education developments, at a wide range of institutions all over Europe, from individual universities to national ministries, rectors' conferences or European organisations such as the European University Association (EUA) or the League of European Research Universities (LERU). From 2014 to 2016 she was the chancellor (Kanzlerin) of the University Erlangen-Nürnberg. She has since resumed her consulting activity. She also holds a number of honorary mandates, such as that of a member of the Austrian Science Board (Österreichischer Wissenschaftsrat) and of the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Université de Lyon.

What is the "engaged university" conference about? It is one which reaches out to other countries and continents, i.e. an "international(ised)" one. But it is also - and even more so - one which actively engages with its closer vicinity, its local and regional 'habitat'. The "engaged university" interacts and collaborates with civil society at large, municipalities, companies, NGOs, and many other actors. Some would call it a university which pursues the 'third mission' of higher education. We can also put it differently. Next to internationalisation, the themes of this event are social responsibility; civic engagement, active citizenship and 'service learning'; innovation and knowledge and technology transfer; diversity and inclusion, as well as ethics and values.

This is going to be a hands-on conference, mostly concentrating on concrete projects, studies or initiatives at the international, national and local level. One part of the programme - consisting of parallel sessions - will be devoted to jointly discussing and devising possible new 'engagement-related projects' of universities and other actors in different European countries. The event will feature a mix of plenary interventions and of parallel sessions.

Next to our carefully chosen speakers and next to you, our very distinguished audience, the star of this event is Bled, this planet's most wonderful village. A breath-taking and yet easily accessible beauty, right next to Ljubljana Airport.

For more detailed information on the conference, on its programme and on how to register, please visit our website.

We suggest you register soon. Demand is considerable and places fill up fast.

About ACA: ACA is a federation of national organisations from Europe and beyond which fund and encourage international cooperation in education. ACA, their common umbrella body, is dedicated to furthering innovation and internationalisation in higher education. It pursues this aim by a wide range of activities, among them studies, evaluations and publications, international conferences and seminars, networking between its members and with important government and civil society organisations, as well as advocacy.